The Ta 154 is yet another example of a Luftwaffe
could have been. In 1943, with bomber production declining there was a
surplus of Jumo 211 power plants available and the RLM was receptive to
the idea of building a fast attack aircraft utilizing these engines.
They were also much impressed by the British Mosquito. The RLM gave
Kurt Tank, director of Focke-Wulf, the assignment of designing the
aircraft with three conditions: the twin engined plane was to be made
of wood, use the Jumo 211 and production was to start quickly.

The RLM later decided, based on the current war
situation that it would be more advantageous to build the new aircraft
as a night fighter. Focke-Wulf was chosen to produce the new fighter
for two reasons. First, unlike Junkers, Messerschmitt and Dornier, it
had no adaptable twin engine designs and the RLM felt that the company
would readily accept the challenge of a completely new development
program and second and more importantly the reputation of its director
Kurt Tank, who was held in such high esteem that he was alloted design
numbers using the first two letters of his surname, hence the "Ta"
designation. The officially suggested name for the plane was to be the
Wasp (Wespe) but from the outset the plane was known as the Moskito in
ironic recognition of its general similarity to the British Mosquito.
The design was original with the aim of producing a night fighter that
would be superior to the Mosquito and the British influence was slight.
Anticipated shortages of light metals were not the only reason for the
Ta 154 out of wood. Hermann Goring considered it imperative that the
Luftwaffe have its own "wooden wonder". He felt that the English plane
that roamed with impunity over the Continent represented a challenge
that the German aircraft industry could not ignore and anticipated
great psychological and propaganda benefits from beating the British at
their own game.

The prototype was completed in less than 10 months
from the date of the RLM requirement. The plane had good flight
characteristics but was plagued with hydraulic problems. The prototype
which lacked radar, armament and flame dampers is credited with having
a top speed of 435 mph however the complete set of flight reports for
the prototype covering 181 flights reveal the that a top speed of 389
mph at 20,500 feet was attained during speed trials in 1943. Typical of
many of the aircraft design programs of the time a large number of
prototypes were built, fourteen in this case, each attempting to
fulfill some new RLM requirement. Beginning in March of 44 the first of
22 preproduction fighters were completed. Hydraulic problems continued
to plague the program and numerous accidents and plane losses resulted.
The RLM issued an order for 250 night fighters in the Fall of 43,
however there existed in the German high command a strong antipathy
towards all specialized night fighting aircraft. They felt that
outmoded and converted day types such as the Bf 110, Ju 88 and Do 217
were adequate. Even the superior He 219, which was further along in its
development was finding particular resistance from the RLM to its
adoption. It was an open secret that Erhard Milch favored the Ju 388J,
despite its drawbacks but even this type never entered service. The
reason for this official antipathy was Hitler's refusal to think in
defensive terms.

It was only the alternative role of the Ta 154 as a
counter to the De Havilland Mosquito that led to its being given a
production order at all. The dual missions of Mosquito chaser and night
fighter would haunt the fighter throughout its career, eventually being
responsible for its failure to see widespread operation service.
Early in 44 an informal comparison flight was made with the He 219. The
test pilots from their respective companies swapped planes. The Heinkel
test pilot noted that the Ta 154 had much better acceleration and was
more maneuverable than the larger He 219 but was less stable around all
three axes and though it lacked the excellent visibility of the 219 it
was far more responsive to control inputs and offered sufficient
visibility for night operations. The Focke-Wulf pilot noted that the
Heinkel fighter that was heavily armed and armored weighing half again
as much as the 154 but with about the same horsepower was sluggish and
just barely able to get around the pattern on one engine and lacked the
acceleration of the 154. The top speed of the 154 was higher but it had
a shorter endurance and range than the 219. Both men agreed the the 219
was better suited for operations infiltrating and following the bomber
stream whereas the 154 would be better employed patrolling a local area
and being vectored by ground based controllers

In June of 44 a Ta 154 crashed when is wing
apparently disintegrated. Production was halted and it was found that
the glue was at fault. For both political and technical reasons the Ta
154 program was officially canceled on August 14, 1944. The
Emergency fighter program of November 44 dispelled any last hopes Kurt
tank might have had that any of these developments might be built but
technological advancements, particularly with jet aircraft, had left
the Ta 154 behind. There can only be conjecture as to the true worth of
the 154 since none of them were evaluated in post war test flights.

The Kit

The
Promodeler kit comes in a fairly large hinge top box. Not as handy as
a
two part box but certainly better than an end flap box. It has a
rather
nice rendition of the 154 in flight. Inside the box was one large bag
with five smaller bags inside. Each bag has one sprue except one bag
that had two identical sprues. The kit is molded in a light gray
plastic with a matte finish and has recessed panel lines and rivet and
fastener detail. Since the prototype was made from large sections of
molded plywood there aren't a lot of panel lines. The panel lines are
fine and consistent. Looking at the major airframe pieces I found no
sink holes or other surface defects and the pieces are all virtually
flash free. There are some pesky ejector pin marks that show up on the
inside of gear doors, inside the cockpit area and the top of the nose
wheel bay. Others show up on some of the smaller parts but weren't
quite as noticeable. The fabric surfaces are very nicely
rendered.

The
fuselage has some interior detail molded in and for the most part the
pilots area is pretty well detailed, well enough to satisfy many I
suspect. The radar operators pit is a little less detailed. All of the
flight surfaces except the rudder are molded in place and to position
the rudder any way except straight will require removing the mounting
lugs. This kit was
originally designed
by Dragon and it was first released by Promodeler. As a result it has
some of the typical Dragon fit issues. One problem that plagued most
of
the first release of this kit and maybe others as well was a warp in
the wings that leads to the wings having a pronounced droop. Most
build
reviews mention it and a couple give possible solutions so be sure to
check out the other reviews listed near the end of this review.
Apparently this was caused by not allowing the plastic to cool enough
before removing it from the mold. There are also some other fit areas
but not as serious as the wing issue.

The kit as it
comes represents
the A-0 series of which there were 22 built. This aircraft had a long
and protracted development period and many changes were fitted on the
fly or updated later so if modeling a specific aircraft it's best to
have photo's or other references as a given aircraft may have changed
over time. Dragon has since
released an updated kit that I believe has parts to build more
versions, has some photoetch parts and it's also more expensive.
Altogether there are 133 gray parts, a
respectable number for a rather small aircraft. The clear parts are
thin and clear with the radar operators glazing molded as part of the
leading edge of the wing. The wind screen is molded separately so the
canopy can be
displayed open or closed. Bagged separately to prevent scuffing mine
none the less had what appeared to be as scratch or molding defect in
the wind screen and radar operators window. All of the sprues except
for one duplicate are shown below.

The decals
are for one aircraft only but include a lot of stencils. The main
sheet
has most of the decals on it then in what looks like an after thought
there is a second small sheet with the Promodeler logo that includes
the tail number and two swastikas. The decals look thin and
registered.
See below.

After
Market Goodies

While the
kit is fairly well detailed out of the box I decided to add to it to
take it to the next level. If you check out the links listed below you
will find that there were a lot of after market products available at
one time for this kit. The ones I chose are listed and reviewed below.
CMK interior resin detail set (4065)

This set
consists of resin, vacuformed and photoetch parts. The resin parts are
molded in tan resin and consists of 13 parts including a cockpit tub,
upper nose wheel well, pilot and radar operator seats with molded in
harnesses and belts, a bulkhead that fits between the two crew
members,
gun sight, stick, rudder pedals, control panel, radar operators panel
and
radios, and a rear bulkhead. The photoetch parts include buckles for
the
molded on seat belts, throttle and mixture levers, straps for the
rudder
pedals and pilots and radar operators instrument panels. A film with
instruments is provided for use behind the panels. The two vacuformed
parts are the windscreen and canopy. The resin parts are all crispy
molded. the cockpit tub has side wall detail molded in and it is all
very well done. The side walls are very thin in some places and on
mine
one was bowed in some. One will need to exercise some care in sanding
off the bottom of the tub in order to mount the top of the wheel well.
I found only one pinhole in the sidewall of the tub and no short shots
on any of the pieces. The photoetch should enhance the pit even more.
The vacuformed parts are thin but the frame lines are not particularly
well defined so I'm not sure they represent a big improvement over the
kit parts. See below for photo's of the contents of the kit.

The instructions which are printed on a 6" x 7" sheet
printed on both sides includes a parts map, pictorial drawings of how
the parts go together and a color chart that calls out the colors
by name or RLM number and has color numbers for Aeromaster and Humbrol.
Verlinden also made a set for the 154 but I have not seen it, so I can
not compare the two. This kit will certainly raise the level of detail
of the cockpit well above the kit level.

Eduard
photoetch detail set (48300)

As is
usually the case this set includes every thing but the kitchen sink
and
duplicates some of what was supplied in the above kit. Since it was
intended to enhance parts that have been replaced they won't all be
used. However it looks like to me that combining the two allows one to
use what works best for them and there are a number of external parts
in the Eduard that are not suppled in the CMK kit. One note the
instruction sheet states that this is for the Hasegawa kit. I have
never seen any reference to a 1/48 scale kit being released by
Hasegawa
but if it was it is most certainly the same Dragon kit. Hasegawa did
do
a 1/72 scale model. See below for a
photo if the Eduard set parts.

The Eduard
instruction sheet is standard for Eduard kits, a single A4 sized sheet
printed front and back.

Cutting Edge VS 9 Propellers (CEC48168)

At least fourteen of the A-0 series aircraft and
probably others were equipped with VS 9 propellers, these very wide
chord props were most distinctive and I liked the look of power that
they imply so I decided to go with the cutting edge set which are very
nice. Molded in gray resin with no pin holes and only a minimum of
flash. They are basically a drop in replacement for the kit parts. See
below.

Terry Dean nose
weights (which actually fit in the engine nacelles)

The Terry
Dean weights are really slick. They are cast to fit in this case in
the
engine nacelles and provide enough weight to keep the nose firmly on
the ground. You don't need to guess or mess around stuffing shot,
wheel
weights, fishing sinkers or nuts and bolts into nooks and crannies and
hoping you have enough. Weights for other planes fit in noses or wheel
wells and are made for aircraft in 1/72 and 1/48. If you haven't
checked these out for yourself, give them a try.He doesn't have a
website but you can see and read about them at this link
over at Modeling Madness.
See photo below for the set for this kit.

For those so
inclined True Details makes a wheel set (48104) with smooth tread
tires
I found the kit wheels to be acceptable so didn't go with these.

Update Information

Within the
past year or so Dragon decided to release this kit under its own brand
name. the box heralds it as a 3 in 1 kit, basically meaning you can
build three different versions, not three aircraft. With the parts
supplied you can according to the box build the A-0 version, the V-1
version or the V-3 version. I did not bother to verify if everything
you need for all three version are there, the primary differences are
in the radar. The A-0 having the large "stag" antennas the V-1 have
none and the V-3 having the smaller antennas from the earlier radar
system. I bought the kit because it was heralded as a "new mold", note
not new tool. Near as I have been able to determine the only thing new
is a single small sprue that contains the antenna required for the V-3
version a different nose also for the V-3 version and a set of shrouds
for the engine exhausts. All of the other sprues appear to be
identical
to the ProModeler release. It's difficult to tell if the issue with
the
wings is any better without actually assembling it but one can always
hope. The kit also included a small fret of PR with alternative
antenna. instrument panels and a couple other interior parts. The
panels have the dials and pointers etched in, there is no film so I'm
not
sure its an improvement over the original. One also gets a new
decal sheet with the makings for the additional aircraft. All in all
I'm not impressed. Unless you are determined to build one of the "V"
versions you are just as well off to buy the ProModeler kit as it can
usually be found on ebay for less than the inflated price of the
Dragon
kit. Below are photos of the box and the new parts and decals.

Conclusions

In spite of its relatively lackluster career the Ta
154 certainly is a striking aircraft and the ProModeler kit seems to do
it
justice. Unfortunately the warped wing issue and other fit issues
typical of Dragon designed kits detract some from the joy of building
it. There certainly is a wealth of aftermarket goodies to dress it up
and all in all it certainly won't be any tougher to build than many
limited run kits. While I wouldn't recommend the kit to beginners anyone
with a moderate amount of experience should not have that much trouble
with it. I do recommend you read the reviews and builds in the links
below to get a more complete picture of the fit issues with the kit.

I decided I wanted to do something a little different
on this kit and do a version not included as an option with either kit.
I liked this artist impression of Wk # 320008 which depicts a late A-4
version which used FuG218 radar which used vertical mast antennas
located above and below the wings and was fitted with upturned wing tips
in an attempt to improve lateral stability caused by the total lack of
dihedral of the wing.

The first step was to remove the molded in detail on the
cockpit walls. It looks crude but it all gets covered.

Before I installed the side panels I wanted to do
something with the guns, I don't much like the molded on one and the
opening needs a blast tube and the end of a gun barrel hiding in there.

I wasn't sure how to go about removing the molded in gun
barrel and retaining the radius behind the gun, I finally hit on the
idea of using a piece of brass tubing the right diameter. I first
sharpened the end of the tubing by using needle files to thin it down on
the inside, then used it like a scraper to remove the gun down to the
gun trough. While brass isn't all that hard, it's harder than the
plastic and did the trick. I brushed some liquid cement over the area
where the gun was to smooth it up. This will mostly be hidden by the new
gun barrel.

I decided to Master gun barrels to replace the removed
20mm guns. I had planned to just use hypo tubing but then AMS kicked in.
While it doesn't show well, the Master barrels do have a slight taper to
them and I always have an issue trying to get the end of hypo tubing to
look right, the master barrels have a nice radius and bore on the end
that looks like a gun barrel and not like a piece of cut off hypo
tubing. In any event I think it looks better than it was represented on
the kit part. Now I just need to bore out a blast tube for it.

Cockpit completed as far as I could without inserting in
the fuselage.

Very difficult to tell what is visible in the 30mm
trough but the gun barrel doesn't look to protrude very far if at all
so all I want there is the end of a gun barrel. The 20 mm appears to be
coming out of a blast tube and the way the panel is molded it doesn't
look that way and just drilling a hole to plug the barrel in didn't
look right to me. I drilled a hole for the 20mm with the panel in
place on the fuselage to see where it came out, then blocks of styrene
were glued on the fuselage were the gun would penetrate and also on the
gun panel behind the opening for the 30mm. It probably would have
looked better to fill the hole and re drill it due to the odd shape
there but I think once the internal area is painted flat black it won't
matter.

I then gradually increased the size of the
hole in the panel for the 20mm using drill bits first then finished with
round files. Drill bits can grab and tear if you are not careful and this
area gets pretty thin, that's why I finished with files. This is what I
ended up with which seemed to look pretty close to me.

I then made a 30mm barrel from a correct ID piece of
hypodermic tubing, drilled a hole in the block I had glued inside and
pushed it in place.

I may leave it out a bit farther, it's just test
fitted for now, I'll leave it out till after painting. Here is how it
will look with the 20mm in place.

The panels and pit were installed and fuselage glued up.
The last couple of fuselage bits were then installed, the rear bulkhead
with the radar operators head rest which does a nice job of hiding most
of the fuselage seam and a couple of pieces of PE that add some
structural detail and hide part of the wing root. Not sure how visible
these will be, I guess I will find out when the canopy goes on.

As mentioned in the review the kit has an issue with the
wings. If you just glue them together right out of the box they sag, a
negative dihedral where there is supposed to be none. It has been
speculated that this was caused by popping the parts out of the mold too
soon however I'm not so inclined to go along with that as the much later
release by Dragon exhibits the same problem. My theory is that it has to
do with stresses in the part due to the wings being rather thin outboard
of the nacelle area which is much thicker. Anyway here is what you get
out of the box.

A rather poor photo but you get the idea. Before doing
anything else I tried the hot water treatment and careful bending. This
helped some but did not solve the issue and it left some stress marks in
the thick area around the nacelle, fortunately on the inside.

I decided to use the method Tom Cleaver did using a coat
hanger as a stiffener. I first determined how far out in the wing it
would go without interfering with the wing halves. I then cut a length
of coat hanger they required length to extend from one wing to the other
making certain it was straight. Once I determined where it would lay I
drilled a hole through the wing roots and fuselage. I test fitted
everything before the next step to make certain there were no fit
issues. I next glued the coat hanger to one wing using 5 minute epoxy
and clamped it to a flat surface until it cured.

Once it cured the next step was to slide the coat hanger
through the fuselage and glue the wing root and the lower wing root to
the fuselage making certain every thing fit properly. while this was
still soft the other upper wing half was slid onto the coat hanger and
its wing root glued to the fuselage along with the lower wing root.
Another batch of epoxy was mixed and the coat hanger glued to the inside
of the other wing and the whole assembly was clamped in place to a brass
bar to keep the upper surface of the wing flat until it cured over
night.

Once everything was set up the rest of the lower wing
parts were installed as well as most of the rest of the airframe parts.

I spite of the optical effect the wing is straight!
Note that the dymo tape on the wings is the prelude for the next
step. Now that the wings are straight, I'm going to bend them but
only the tips this time. The bird I'm modeling was one of several
fitted with up turned wing tips in an effort to improve directional
stability. Wings with no dihedral almost always lead to directional
instability but I assume in this case it was done for strength and easy
of manufacture. The tape was use to scribe a new panel line where the
new tips attached. The original wings had the ailerons going all the
way to the tip but now they need to end before that. The new line was
marked and scribed using measurements from a scaled up drawing.

Once that was done a saw cut was made on the top using
the existing panel line.

This was cut all the way through the top wing and into
the leading and trailing edge on the bottom wing. I just wanted to leave
the center of the bottom wing to act as a hinge.

Next the dymo tape came back out to mark another
location topside. This was first scribed then a saw cut started.

Once started I tilted the saw at 45 degrees and cut
towards the first cut until I had removed a wedge on material.

then scribed the lower panel line to make it deeper and
the part thinner then applied several coats of Tenax to soften it up. I
then saturated the upper portion and using brute force, bent the wing
tip up and held it in place until it hardened up. The process was
repeated on the other wing.

While it looks ugly at this point once it's all filled and sanded all
should be good.

From here it was on to the body and paint shop, I
didn't take a lot of photos here. Not much to see watching paint dry. I
spent a lot of time cutting out a mask for the mottles on the upper
surface but in the end decided to go with free hand and I'm glad I did
as I was quite happy with the end results.

And a few shots in natural light.

Except for the wing issue the kit actually goes
together quite well. I did modify the stance by shortening the mounting
block on the main gear by .062" and added a .062 spacer to the bottom
of the nose gear. The vertical antenna turned out to be a PITA but I
like the look better than the traditional stag horn antennas. The Terry
Dean weights along with the resin pit and props provided more than
enough weight to keep it on its nose and it will even return there if
you push the tail to ground and let it go. All in all it was a fun
experience and I'm happy with the end result.